Is There a Band Waggon to be jumped on regarding Mental Health Awareness?

October the 10th it is World Mental Health Day and I think this post would have been more suited if I had posted it on the 10th, but if I’m perfectly honest, it wasn’t something that crossed my mind. On the day of the 10th I saw a lot of overused quotes and statues shared all over my social media platforms.

Not only on the 10th, but for a good few months stories, affects, signs have been so loud and in your face. In the news, on the radio, talked about on TV, portrayed in soaps, written in the newspapers and magazines, and now even all over social media. Which is great. Raising awareness is remarkable and is so important to finally get rid of that awful stigma that was stuck surrounding mental health. But when does raising awareness turn into hypocrisy? Well, I’ve got a good example for ya!

I’m going back to the school days. Oh yep! The good old school days which now feel like nothing but a very distant memory. sad face.

I think every year group in school has a number of people who are usually friends, who think they’re the coolest people on Earth and anybody who isn’t in their friendship group aren’t relevant. Those were the people, in my school who used to tease, make fun of and tear other people’s confidence down. I wouldn’t go as far as bully because my school had an almighty no bullying tolerance and they were good at stamping out bullying. But there were the occasional sly dig thrown around at PE or the dinner hall that went unnoticed by teachers.

On my Facebook is where I tend to feel a little bit miffed. Not due to the shared content, but because of who was behind the share button.

Yep. Those girls who used to mock, tease, and pull apart other girls.

This isn’t a personal attack on groups of girls by the way. It’s just the group of girls that I personally witnessed doing such, because I was around them a lot more than I was around the guy groups, so I’m talking more towards what I know rather than what I assume.

My timeline was full of those girls saying “It’s okay not to be okay”. “Check up on those around you” and “A smile hides a thousand tears”. You get the gist, yeah? Which is great in a way, they may have finally realised the pain they’ve caused to other people when they were total dicks in school. Maybe they realise that words actually do hurt and it’s not all just sticks and stones, but maybe… just maybe…

They don’t even realise their spoken words still haunts and affects people to this very day.

And that thought angers me more than saddens, because of the blissful ignorance that is present within people. Their shit don’t stink?

Mocking a fellow pupil because she didn’t own a McKenzie coat, singling one person out because of their sexual orientation or hair colour, and saying someone’s belly wobbled when they tripped over during PE.. Some examples of their comments on different severities which can go on to play on their mind in the future, if forever.

Maybe you think I’m being harsh with this post, but why should people who have done so wrong in the past be forgotten and forgiven because they’ve shared a NHS mental health status.

With that thought in mind, it makes me wonder why people, are sharing all of these mental health awareness quotes, statistics, helpline numbers, etc.
Are they repping their previous sins? Are they genuinely concerned about people’s wellbeing? Do they want to make a difference to somebodies life? Maybe they’ve been affected themselves and realised it’s an awful situation to be in. Or, the possibility that I don’t really want to think about. Have they saw other people sharing similar content and they’ve decided to join in and hit share, but forget why those statues are being created in the first place.

I would love to think that somebody, somewhere, has managed to seek help and potentially save themselves just by viewing one of those girls’ awareness content. In my eyes, if they are going to do unnoticed damage in their school years, at least they can try to help in their adult years.

8 thoughts on “Is There a Band Waggon to be jumped on regarding Mental Health Awareness?”

This reminds me of that thread at the official Philippines subreddit, where a Redditor complained about some of his former bullies in Year 7-10 reposting stuff about mental health awareness on Facebook. Hypocrisy, I tell you!

I never really thought about this until this year when I saw someone I went to high school with, who was very popular and if you weren’t then you were shit, posting things about mental health. Or people who I’ve heard say “Depression/anxiety is all in your head.” now posting & sharing content about mental health. It really bothers me but I’m not sure, like you said, if they’ve opened their eyes or are just trying to “fit in” with others on their feed/timeline.

It’s sad though I think because nobody pressurises anybody to post things online, so the fact they’re doing it to fit in, or jumping on the band waggon kind of goes against them posting saying they’re all ears, for example.